Full Summary:
She was penny less….he lived in a mansion.
She was on the run…he for once, was quietly settling down
She wanted to escape an abusive relationship…he let himself tie down.
She was all light and angel wrapped in a cocoon…he was death and darkness bleeding and staining his surroundings.
She was an ex-hunting agent…he had always been the faceless target on her radar.
They couldn't have been more different except they both nursed a secret. They don't include "secrecy" in seven deadly sins, do they? They should, since this deadliest of the deadly sins has the strongest ability to ruin trusts, families, relationships and souls.
Chapter 1:
I hurled myself out of the door and threw up my fancy dinner on the porch, which didn't look or smell fancy anymore. I'd spent 4 hours making this dinner, Russian salad, rich juicy steaks and some delicious homemade brownies with dark sauce dripping on the sides. They felt heavenly delicious then but now, even the idea was making my stomach clench painfully. I heaved again, bracing myself on the fence lining the porch.
I needed to be quiet and I needed to leave right now while the streets were still flooding in a massive blackout. I wiped my mouth from the back of my hand and looked up at the down pour. My panic was setting in, I could tell from the trembling in my legs and the too rapid contractions of my lungs. I looked down to miserably acknowledge my inappropriate attire to make an escape but I knew I won't be able to step back inside the house. Changing was out of question.
I straightened keeping my hold tight on the fence, wincing as I felt multiple sharp pains throughout my body. My adrenaline was wearing off already. Just then, the clouds overhead rumbled and a crack of light lit up the whole street. I could make out a few heads down the street that shot another wave of panic through me. I hastily closed the front door and slipped to the back of the house, staggering and stumbling in the dark.
I waited for the voices to pass with my back pressed to the back wall of the house. Tears started to prick my eyes and blur my vision but I could not afford to break down right now. I pushed away from the house and made my way through the backs of houses to reach the end of the street lane. The roaring clouds and the black out, aiding me by drowning out my clumsy loud steps and poor hiding skills.
Once I was out of the residential area, I sprinted on the deserted roads, passing closed shops and tightly locked warehouses. Who would want to be out in this weather anyway? Definitely someone who was desperate, someone who wanted to leave this place unseen, someone who'd be accused in any case, no matter the circumstances. Someone like me.
My tight black fish dress, reaching my ankles, was making it even more difficult to navigate in the dark. The occasional flashing in the sky was helpful though but I was still afraid that I might end up running into a tree or falling down a ditch. The gravel and dried sticks were jabbing and creating clean cuts across my bare feet but I stored the pain away to be felt at a later more affordable time, if I was ever going to get any.
A string of white hot lit up the sky, too near, that made me jump up and see a fallen tree but it was too late to escape the stumbling, so I just tried to brace myself on hands and knees. My little trick made my already scraped knees, start to bleed.
My black hair were plastered to my face and the dress melded with the wet road so much so that I couldn't tell where it ended. The only proof of my existence inside the dress was my bruised up leg, showing through the rip that was going up the right side of my thigh. I couldn't take it anymore, I broke down; there curled on the road, with trees looming around me and clouds rolling amidst the flashes.
Someone would find out, I couldn't run fast enough, they'd catch up to me, wouldn't they? The tree branches seemed to reach out to me, making me see them as my neighbors, with vicious scowls twisting their faces. The beating rain washing away the taste of my tears and the chilly wind slapping me across the face as if to keep me from passing out. Perhaps the biting wind wants me to stay awake, perhaps the trees are trying to nudge me up, and perhaps the ever blackened sky is ready to enlighten my way through this, whenever the need be.
The stupid notion that the nature, this rain, the trees, the lightening were with me and were trying to push me away from danger, made me collect myself and I stood up cringing while various hinges of my body creaked from the previous experience of brutal knocking.
Once again I started towards the unknown fate, but this time I managed to make myself calm and detached; and placed all my worries in the hands of my new found friends.
I'd always been collected, always been in control, that's what made me best in my job, that's what made me successful in my career. I always knew what I would do tomorrow, I always knew what my options were, I always kept my life…organized. But right now, it felt nice to just let go, so light to just float away with my surroundings. I knew my new attitude was mainly because of the fact that the whole city was engulfed by darkness and no one could see me in my charcoal dress ripped in shreds, bleeding knees, bruising face framed by dark wet strands, red rimmed stony eyes, and my staggering gait. I looked dark, I felt dark. I felt myself absorbing my equally dark surroundings and the scenery around me seemed to melt into me. I was losing my mind and it felt…oddly exhilarating.
I don't know for how long I walked through the rain, contemplating my fate. I kept sifting through my life to pinpoint exactly where I went wrong to reach this state. I could scare the crap out of anyone right now, looking like this…a walking corpse, wandering aimlessly along the deserted road under a thundering storm.
I jerked out of my self-induced trance at the sound of an engine rumbling in the distance. Someone was near and that set off my panic attack again, that I'd thought I had tightly chained. I ducked away from the main road and stepped down through the side bushes inching away from civilization.
The rain started beating down harder if that was possible. Suddenly I was frozen in place, not from the bone seeping cold but in fear. The storm was pretty loud but a distinct growl was clear enough.
Where was I? I had no idea. Were there wolves here? Lions? Or maybe just wild cats? The growl was unmistakably louder this time and much nearer. Scanning my surrounding I spotted a movement behind me in my peripheral vision. Without giving my fear the opportunity to paralyze me again, I bolted forwards.
I slipped on the muddy ground multiple times, each time thinking it to be my last. The sharp bushes ripping through what was left of my dress, sliced my skin and face.
I was on the verge of passing out from sheer exhaustion, both physical and mental when I saw a silhouette of a house, looming in the distance against pearly moonlight. The moon was peeking through the clouds and only then, I realized that the storm had cleared enough and it was only drizzling. A rumbling behind me, whether it was actual or in my imagination, made me throw myself towards the creepy looking house.
The shadowy silhouette kept getting bigger as I neared, and I realized that it was too grand to be just a house, it was a mansion. I briefly wondered who owned a mansion so far away from the city but something pawed at my feet just then.
A scream of pure horror made its way from somewhere inside me, I was about to be eaten alive. So much for your dramatic escape, Angel.
I knew it was inevitable now but I, at least had to try. Blindly kicking back I took a chance and it turned out tonight was in my favour. My heel connected with a furry head rewarding me with a whine. I didn't wait to see if I'd actually done some damage or had I just managed to make it angrier.
Throwing myself on the front door I started banging my fists.
"Open up. Please. Help." I hated to admit that I was crying again. Slapping my already raw palms against the hard wood, I yelled again. "Open the damn door."
The door opened with a loud creak, I was grabbed by my wrist and pulled inside with a harsh jerk, making me land on the floor on all four.
The door slid shut behind me. I didn't know what I was expecting to see but an old harsh wrinkled face half covered by big round spectacles was not it.
"Huh! I'll be damned. We don't usually get such feminine guests here…. Or guests in general. Are you lost darling?" The lady inquired thrusting her candle stand in my face.
"I…um…yes." I was still too shocked to process her words or create my own.
"Oh poor thing. You're shaking like a leaf." Her face softened a bit but the fact that I was unable to see anything past a few feet made me queasy. "Let's get you inside before you catch a cold."
Hauling me up, she started walking through the corridor lined by various frames. She acted like it was an everyday occurrence; that a filthy dripping wet girl, collapsing on her front door, trying to escape the horrifying death by some carnivores, was something she managed on a daily basis.
"My name is Susan but you can call me Sue. Welcome to this humble abode. It's a bit darker in here due to the power outage but at least it's dry. And warm. God only knows what he plans to convey with all this storm. I reckon he is trying to shake some sense into us or he might be washing away our sins. Who knows… "
As Susan rambled on, I took my chance to look around the mansion. The ceiling was high above, that candle light almost couldn't reach it. The paintings that hung along the stone walls were abstract and elegant. I couldn't help but miss some colors in them, they'd look a lot more beautiful with some vivid greens, reds and purples. All the doors that we passed were closed so I couldn't look deeper. For a moment I was so lost in the haunted beauty of this place that I forgot all about my soul shattering night.
My hostess took a sharp turn and the corridor opened into a huge room, at one end of which lit a fireplace, the other end was lined by huge, ceiling high shelves stuffed with books. It presented a cozy feel and I unconsciously took a step towards the fire.
"Oh yes. You go right up and make yourself comfortable, dear. I'll just bring down some dry clothes for you." I would've flushed if I weren't deathly cold. Moving to the fireplace, I warmed myself, keeping my muddy self carefully away from the very posh couch and the kind of rug that you can sink down to your ankles.
For twice now in my life, I found myself in a state where I had no idea what I was going to do, how I was going to pick myself up. It was like I traveled back 13 years.
It was my tenth birthday. I was so happy because Dad promised to come home for my birthday. He was offered a really great job in another state and we wanted some extra money for my Mom's returning skin cancer, so he decided to take the job for two years. He would visit every few months, typically on our special days and Christmas, bringing gifts and sweets. Every time he would tell me to be stronger for myself and for my mother, he'd tell me to stay focused on my studies. We would all stay by the fire after Christmas dinner and play monopoly. My Mom always cheated and Dad knew but he never called her out, he would just give her a look and shake his head and play on with a knowing smile.
My world came crashing down when on my tenth birthday I was suddenly left alone, I remembered how I cried myself to sleep by the fire that night. The thing that hurt the most was that they didn't die, they were snatched away from me. I remembered how I was told that my parents' bodies were recovered from some place, they had no reason to be. But the next day, the newspapers printed it as an accident. An unfortunate spin of the wheel landed Mr. and Mrs. Shire down a ditch, when they were bringing back her daughter's favourite chocolate cake to celebrate her birthday. But I knew, that was just made up. Part of me felt guilt and regret, if it weren't for me, they'd still be alive. I remembered seeing their bodies, the sliced open flesh. They were murdered, yes, but as a child, I couldn't figure out how. It was only a couple of years later that the strangeness of it, struck me and I started asking myself questions.
I was sixteen when I found out about the other kind, they called them "mutants". I wasn't sure whether my parents' untimely death was because of these altered humans but I wanted to solve this mystery. I wanted to unravel the truth. My hunt for answers and my soul deep curiosity led a fine posh gentleman, Mr. Kurt, at my doorstep, I was offered a place at the Sector. It was a secret agency, established to hunt down mutants and lock them at a remote facility. I worked with the Sector for 3 years, bringing down many mutants, and even though all I had to do was track them down, but I was good at it, really good, and since I graduated a year earlier, my MIT degree helped me a lot in my work. At 21, I was a rock hard chic who could trace any mutant with just a few clicks, I was admired, respected and loved by my colleagues. Loved…? That didn't last very long. I snorted and shook my head.
"Here, I found one of my dresses, it might be a tad bit lose on you but at least it's dry." She smiled warmly, extending the bundled up clothes towards me.
"Um…thank you. But can I get myself cleaned up first?" Taking the clothes I asked meekly, nodding towards my grimy legs. I didn't want to sound greedy but I couldn't change with blood and mud still coating my skin.
"Oh sure sure. I am sorry, we don't get many visitors here so I've been out of practice to entertain them properly." She seemed to fidget while adjusting her too big spectacles. "Oh my! Is that blood?"
"Oh! Err….yes I scraped my knees falling down, outside."
"Knees? No, I meant on your head." She reached out and gently touched my forehead. I winced, I'd completely forgotten about that.
"Well….I was mugged." I lied biting my lip. Waiting for her to call out on my lie, I shifted on my sore feet.
"Right! That's why you were shaking so bad when I let you in. Offcourse. This area is full of rowdy muggers. Come on, let me show you to the restroom." She picked up her old styled candle stand and set to lead the way again.
I was led to lavish bath made entirely of nude stones, after passing through an equally luxurious bedroom with a huge king-sized bed. My hostess was busy setting up candles across the room and bathroom, while I was solely focusing on the lack of a bathroom door. After Susan left, I took a hot bath scrubbing myself clean, burning hot water soothing my cuts and relaxing my muscles. I cleaned my wounds as best as I could, with some antiseptics, I found under a cabinet and took liberty to use.
My heart gave a painful squeeze as my mind wandered once again back to the incident. They would've found out about now, haven't they? How long will it take for them to reach me? I'd have to leave this place soon. Finishing up, I dried myself with a towel and slipped a brown and green floral printed dress over my head. It reached my ankles and it was far from "tad bit lose" on me, I was nearly lost in it. But I had other things to worry about rather than a huge ugly dress.
Discarding my black dress, I quickly made my way downstairs. Susan was fussing over something with her back to me.
"So….doesn't it get lonely in such a big house? It must take a whole three hours for you to get to the other end of it." I didn't know why I was bothering with the small talk but I guess I was buying time to calm my nerves.
"Oh you have no idea. It gets so lonely here that I'd be happy to entertain burglars and killers too, if I get the chance. But yes, other than me, it's Mr. Lehnsherr and John. John is on leave today though. And Mr. Lehnsherr is out on his business trip." Vaguely describing the members, she motioned for me to join her. She was making tea in two cups and there were several cookies, rolls, mini sandwiches, cheese and soup carefully laid out on a delicate metal trolley. I realized that I was hungry since I hadn't eaten since morning and whatever I managed to stuff in at dinner was jerked out violently. Groaning, I decided to settle for soup.
Clearing my throat to gain Susan's attention, I asked what I was itching to ask since I got here.
"Are there wolves here in this area?"
"Wolves? No wolves, Just some rabbits and occasional skunks. I know they purposely come here to destroy my farm in the back. I swear one of these days I'm gonna call Animal Control on them." She grumbled waving her cookie in the air like a weapon.
Well, last I remember bunnies didn't growl or pounce on you for a bite. I sipped my soup and it flowed down my throat warming my insides, making me moan.
"How far is the nearest, town from here? "
"Nearest town? Ha! Nearly 13 Kilometers. I am thinking the phone lines are down, otherwise I would've offered you to call your family or husband or boyfriend." She supplied sympathetically.
A chill went down my spine, making my hands tremble.
"You're not thinking of leaving tonight, Sweetheart, are you?"
"I…I don't know." I was in a daze. Where would I go? Now that I was back in a comfy environment, I didn't want to leave. I was close to bursting in tears but held in check. You'd get your time, Angel. For now hold it in!
"I readied a guest bedroom for you, when you were taking a bath. Don't worry, it's the one with a solid bathroom door." She told me smiling mischievously. I couldn't help but smile back at her.
She was being so nice to me. She must feel very lonely here. I presumed Mr. Lehnsherr was her husband, shouldn't he stay here with his wife rather than throwing away his remaining life in work, away from family? I tried not to judge but he sounded like a fat old greedy workaholic, who had no time for his lonely wife in her old days.
Finishing my soup, I trudged upstairs following Susan to reach another half lit room. I was so tired and sore that I was sure to pass out the moment I hit the bed. That's exactly what happened. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was cursing myself to be too trusty of an old lady in a strange house. But who was I kidding? Shouldn't she be the one to be skeptical of me? After all I was the one who committed a murder and was now posing like a damsel in distress.
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